What friends are made of
by Sci F.I. Warper
Summary: A girl Charlie and Don knew in high school visits. She and Charlie used to be good friends. But what wil happen when certain facts about their friendship come to light. Maybe CharlieOC or CharlieMegan. I haven't decided yet.
1. Chapter 1

Alan finally managed to negotiate the front door open just as the phone rang. Mildly cursing at the inconvience he placed the heavy grocery bags onto the sofa and caught the phone just before the last ring.

"Eppes residence," he stated, assuming it was either a telemarketer(they had been making an increased amount of calls to thehouse)or one of Charlie's many aquaintences.

"Hello, does Charles Eppes still live here?" the female voice on the other line replied.

"Yes," Alan replied, "May I ask whose calling?"

"I'm a friend of Charles'," the voice replied confirming Alan's theory, "Could I speak to him?"

"I'm afraid Charlie's not here right now," Alan answered, "But you could probably find him at his office, do you need the number?"

"No, that's okay," the voice replied hurriedly, "Thank you though. Um, do you happen to be Charlie's father?"

Alan stopped, taken aback by the question. Normally mostCharlie's aquaintences just asked where Charlie was and then hung up.

"Yes," he answered, curious, "Is there any special reason you need to know?"

"Oh, no," the voice replied, a hint of humor seeping through, "Thanks, Mr. Eppes."

With that the other line disconected.

'No problem,' Alan thought to himself. Hanging up the phone, he just shook his head slightly. It wasn't the strangest phone call he had ever had. No, the strangest one was when the boys were younger and Don and a few of his friends had gotten into trouble in the chemistry lab, but that was a long time ago. Alan picked up the grocery bags intent on asking Charlie about the incident later.

* * *

**CalSci**

Charlie leaned against his desk, staring at the equation in front of him.

"It's not that the equation is wrong per say, Charles," his friend Larry said, pacing between the desk and board, "It's just, I'm not sure it's correct for the application..."

A sudden knock interrupted the physicist's rant. Both men turned to look at the door. Slowly the head of a young woman, with short chesnut hair and emerald green eyes, poked in. Spotting Charlie, her face lit up, but as she spotted Larry her cheeks blushed crimson.

"Oh, sorry," she muttered nervously, "I didn't know you were busy. I can come back later."

Hurrying to close the door, she barely missed slamming Charlie's fingers with it as he tried to stop her.

Pulling back he uttered a cry of suprise he called, "Wait, miss."

The young woman stopped and looked at him sheepishly.

For a second a wavering memory touched the outer surface of Charlie's brain. It flitted away to soon for him to process it, however.

"Is there something I can do for you?" he asked, his eagerness to help and his curiousity getting the better of him.

"Yeah," the young woman replied, scratching her head nervously, "I was wondering if you could help me with problem 31b?"

Instantly the flickering memory returned. Charlie's eyes grew wide with recognition and in an awed breath he said, "Kat!"


	2. Chapter 2

A.N.: Yeah, disclaimer time: I own Kat alone. Or rather she decided to take over my mind and figure out away to make out with Charlie or something. I'm not sure. She scares me a little (runs from imaginary character.)

* * *

Kat grinned, "It's nice to see you, too, Charlie. Or should I refer to you as Dr. Eppes now?" 

"Kat, why...when did you get here?" Charlie said, approaching her.

"I flew in about an hour ago, and I'm here for the geneticsseminar this weekend," Kat replied, "It's good to see you Charlie."

"It's great to see you, Kat," Charlie said, breaking out into a grin, "Why don't you come into my office?"

"I don't want to bother you," Kat said, "I'm sure I can come at another time."

"No, really, I insist," Charlie replied, taking her hand and pulling her with him, "Come on."

"Okay, okay, no need to be so pushy about it," Kat said, rolling her eyes.

The two walked back into Charlie's office. Larry, who had taken up Charlie's seat in front of the board, turned and looked at them. Standing up he walked over to Charlie.

"Hey, Larry, I'd like you to meet my friend Kat," Charlie said, pushing Kat forward, "Kat, this is Dr. Fleinhardt, he's a professor of physics at CalSci."

"Nice to meet you, Kat," Larry replied, holding out his hand.

"You, too, Dr. Fleinhardt," Kat replied, "I didn't know you knew Charlie."

"He used to be one of my professors," Charlie explained.

" Charles was one of my most apt students," Larry replied smiling.

"Well, you must be one killer of a professor," Kat said, "I just finished reading your paper on the eleven dimension gravity theory."

"Really?" Larry replied, genuinely suprised.

" Yeah, a few physicst friends of mine enjoy sending me mail. They've been trying to convince me that I should stop with the micro and go to the macro universe."

" I take it that your field is microbiology, then," Larry said, crossing his arms in a casual stance.

Kat nodded, "Actually, it's in genetics, but I've been studying changes in bacteria and fungi. I'm here for the seminar."

Suddenly a phone rang.

"That's mine," Charlie said, shuffling past Larry. Larry and Kat watched as the young mathematician riffled through his backpack. Pulling out a pile of papers, he haphazardly tossed them on the desk. Finally he pulled out a cellphone.

"Hello," he said, answering it, "Oh, hey, Don...Yeah, no problem...Are you sure?...Now. Don, I need to...okay, okay. I'll be down in a few minutes. Yeah, okay. Bye."

Hanging up he looked at Kat and Larry.

"I'll be right back," he said, hurriedly running out of the room.

Larry and Kat watched him go. Larry shook his head and walked back to the chalk board. Kat stared in the direction Charlie left for a moment longer.

Turning back to Larry she asked, "What was that all about?"

Larry looked at her and returned to leaning on his hands, staring at the chalkboard.

"Probably Don has some new case," he said, "I've told Charles that he's wasting his most ingenious years in helping the FBI..."

"Wait! Don's here! And he's working for the FBI!" Kat exclaimed.

Larry looked back, a confused expression on his face.

"Yes, he never left after..." he paused.

Kat nodded.

"I heard about their mom," she replied, "Cancer, right?"

Larry nodded. Kat sighed.

"I wish I had called," she said.

For a moment neither said anything. Finally Kat walked over to the desk and began organizing the papers Charlie had tossed onto the table. Larry watched, a little suprised, but didn't say anything. Suddenly Kat chuckled.

" I guess somethings never change," she said.

Catching Larry's expression she explained, "I used to help Charlie clean his locker at school because he could never find anything before class. It was an honest to God nightmare."

"So you and Charlie went to school together," Larry replied.

"Yeah," Kat said, "I used to live across the street from him. We were pretty good friends. Actually a little more than friends."

Larry tilted his head a little, looking at Kat expectantly.

"Oh, no. Nothing like that!" Kat immediately exclaimed, holding up her hands, "I mean we used to be like brother and sister."

"Would it be rude to ask what happened?" Larry replied, crossing his arms.

Kat laughed, "Not really. It's thesame thing that happens most of the time," She put down the neat paper pile, "We grew up. We went to school together for one year. Then Charlie went to Princeton. I graduated and..."

"The perils of youth played on," Larry finished, picking up a prism on Charlie's desk.

"Exactly," Kat replied.

Suddenly Charlie appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, Larry, is there a chance you can give me a ride to Don's office?" he said, sounding slightly frustrated.

"Sure, Charles," The older man replied, heading for the door.

Charlie looked over at Kat and said, "Want to come? Unless your busy or...," he looked at his watch.

"No, I've got time," Kat said, checking her watch, too, "The lecture isn't until tommorow morning. I was actually going to the hotel, but I can't pass up a trip to the Feds."

"Thanks," Charlie said. He waited for Kat to grab her purse.

The two of them and Larry walked out of the office and down to Larry's car. Larry drove while the two friends chatted in the back. Soon they were in front of Don's building.


	3. Chapter 3

A.N.: Okay, the italic words at the very beginning of the chapter are memories from when Kat met Charlie.This is just a warning so you don't get confused. I'm going to throw in glimpses of there history throughout. Kat is technically a year older than Charlie and started highschool when she was 14 (fits the timeline that Charlie graduated when he was 13). This is about four years before that.

* * *

_Kat's POV_

_Kat stared unhappily out the jeep's window. The suburb was like any other she had lived in for the past six years. Sighing dejectedly, she let her head fall with a thud against the window. _

_Looking over her shoulder with a worried expression Kat's mom said, "You okay back there, sweetie."_

_"Yeah, mom," Kat replied. Her head stung for a brief second but there was no lasting damage._

_Finally the van pulled into the driveway of a two story house. Immediately Kat's parents jumped out to inspect their new home while Kat whistfully crawled from the back and just stared at the size. For a second, she felt a brief glimmer of hope. The house was bigger than the others. Kat knew enough from listening to her parents "secret" discussions to know the house was pretty expensive. That meant they wouldn't have to move so quickly. Maybe this time she'd have a chance to find a real friend._

_Suddenly Kat heard a noise. Curious, she looked around the van into the yard next door in time to see to boys shooting hoops. The larger boy was about fourteen with straight, dark brown hair. The smaller one was about Kat's age. He was way shorter then Kat and had dark curly hair. _

_Kat continued to watch for a few minutes. Despite wanting to go over and say hi, she felt embarrased going in front of the older boy. Thankfully, however, a group of larger boys soon appeared. They talked with the bigger boy for a few minutes and soon he handed the basketball to the little one. Ruffling the kid's hair he followed the boys past Kat's new home. Kat froze, unsure of what to do. She watched silently as they passed. For a second she thought they hadn't noticed her. But then, the older boy who had been playing basketball looked over and gave her a strange look. Then, turning around he continued walking down the block._

_Kat watched him go. Turning around she watched the little boy as he began shooting baskets again. She couldn't help but notice that he paused after each shot and stared strangely at the basket. On his tenth shot, the ball hit the rim and zinged past his hand bouncing into her yard. Without hesitation Kat picked it up._

_"Hey," the little boy called running over to her. His voice wasn't angry but he eyed Kat suspiciously._

_"Here's your ball," Kat said, handing the piece of rubber to him. The boy was at least a head shorter then she was, but then again she had just had a growth spurt._

_"Thanks," the boy said, grabbing the ball, "What's your name?"_

_"Kat, what's yours?"_

_"I'm Charlie," the boy said, smiling, "Did you just move here?"_

_Kat nodded._

_" Do you want to play some basketball?"_

_"Sure," Kat said. She followed Charlie over to the net. _

_For a while they shot and caught each other's rebounds. Kat began to notice Charlie muttering numbers under his breath as he shot. Finally she asked, "Why do you do that?"_

_"Do what?" Charlie said, shooting again._

_"Mutter numbers under your breath."_

_"I'm trying to make an equation."_

_"Oh," Kat said, "Why?"_

_" Because I want to help my brother improve his shot," Charlie sayed._

_"Oh," Kat replied. At the time she didn't understand what Charlie meant but it sounded important, and as far as she was concerned doing something important was better then nothing._

_"Can I help?" she asked._

_Charlie stopped and looked at her seriously. Finally he answered simply, "Sure."_

* * *

Don was annoyed. He had told Charlie he had needed his help. It wasn't as if Charlie hadn't been warned ahead of time.

"Don, Charlie's here," Colby said sticking his head into Don's cubicle.

"Finally," Don muttered, bolting up.

Walking to the entrance he saw Charlie accompanied by Larry and an attractive young woman, that was not Amita.

"Hey, Charlie, thanks for getting here so fast," Don said, when he finally got to the group, "Hey, Larry."

"Hello, Don," Larry said.

"It's no problem, Don," Charlie said, " Though a little warning would have been nice.Larry and I were in a deep conundrum over the mathematical principles of his theory and..."

" Listen, I'm sorry," Don remarked, "But I told you I might need you at a moment's notcie."

"Yes, but you fail to realize that I also have a job outside consulting," Charlie replied, annoyed, "I can't just dop grading and lectures at a moments notice for you."

"Why can't you have a student do that stuff? I thought all the professors did," he looked over at Kat, as if to indicate his point.

Immediately Charlie snickered. Kat also grinned slyly.

"Okay," Don replied, getting that he was at the bottom end of a joke and not liking it.

"Don," Charlie said, quickly composing himself, "Don't you recognize Kat."

"Kat?" Don replied, "Kat...Kat..."

"She used to live in our neighborhood," Charlie said, his tone going to downright disbelief, "She used to be our nextdoor neighbor."

Instantly realization sunk in for Don. He stared at the young woman before him with unbelieving eyes.

"Kat!" he exclaimed in complete shock, "Is that really you?"

"Last time I checked," Kat replied with a deadpan expression, "It's great to see you, Don."

"Wow," Don muttered, "I...we haven't seen you in ages. What happened to that ten year old who used to join in tagging behind me?"

Kat shrugged.

"She grew up and went to college," she replied.

"I'd say so," Don answered truthfully. The last time Don had seen Kat, she was a tall, gangly fourteen year old with a smart mouth and defensive nature towards Charlie. As an eighteen year old, Kat was to young and to nerdy to even read on Don's radar, even if she was his little brother's best friend. Now, though, the years had shaped her and the tough attitude seemed to have melted into a welcoming persona.

"Uh, Don," Charlie said, interrupting Don's thoughts," You said you had data you wanted me to see."

"Oh, right, come on, Charlie," Don said, "You coming, Larry, Kat."

"Wouldn't miss if for the world," Kat replied, taking a place next to Charlie.

"As interesting as an indepth investigation of the evil that permeates man's soul sounds," Larry said, "Do you know where Megan is? I was going to return her book."

"Yeah, she's over there," Don said, indicating to his right. He and Charlie share a brief look.

"Thank you," Larry replied and headed of in the direction Don pointed.

" Come on guys," Don said, shaking his head, and heading to an empty glass room.

Leaning over to Charlie, Kat asked, "What was that all about?"

"What, Larry?" Charlie said, looking over his shoulder, "Well, Don and I think..."


End file.
